This invention relates generally to a machine for forming containers from a blank of sheet material, and more specifically to methods and a machine for continuously forming multiple types of corrugated containers from blanks of sheet material.
Containers fabricated from paperboard and/or corrugated paperboard material are often used to store and transport goods. These containers can include four-sided containers, six-sided containers, eight-sided containers, bulk bins and/or various size corrugated barrels. Such containers are usually formed from blanks of sheet material that are folded along a plurality of preformed fold lines to form an erected corrugated container.
At least some known containers are formed using a machine. For example, a blank may be positioned near a mandrel on a machine, and the machine may be configured to wrap the blank around the mandrel to form at least a portion of the container. An example of such a machine is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,242,949 (“the '949 Patent”). The '949 Patent describes a machine that is capable of producing a cardboard case or similar container by wrapping a blank about a mandrel. This mandrel has a substantially square or rectangular cross section, so that the cases formed by the machine have four lateral faces defining a volume having a cross section, parallel to the bottom of the cases, which is also square or rectangular. In other words, this machine forms a four-sided, square, or rectangular box. The machine uses jacks and mechanical linkages to raise, lower, and rotate folding arms that wrap the blank around the mandrel. These arms are rigidly connected together so that they move in tandem, and cannot be moved or controlled independently. The machine shown in the '949 Patent does not include the ability to feed different types of blanks to the forming station for continually forming different types of containers.
Another box forming machine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,271 (“the '271 Patent”). The '271 Patent describes a machine having an eight-sided mandrel that is capable of producing a cardboard case or similar container by wrapping a blank about the mandrel. This machine is able to form containers having eight side faces defining a volume having a cross section, parallel to the bottom of the container, which is also eight-sided. As in the case of the '949 Patent, the '271 Patent also describes a machine that uses jacks and mechanical linkages to raise, lower, and rotate folding arms that wrap the blank around the mandrel. These arms are rigidly connected together so that they move in tandem, and cannot be moved or controlled independently. The machine shown in the '271 Patent does not include the ability to feed different types of blanks to the forming station for continuously forming multiple different types of containers.
Another box forming machine is described in U.S. Pub. No. 2008/0078819 (“the '819 Application”). The '819 Application describes a machine for forming a barrel from a blank of sheet material. The machine includes a mandrel having an external shape complimentary to an internal shape of at least a portion of the barrel. The barrel that is formed is an eight-sided barrel. Thus, the mandrel is also eight-sided. Unlike in the '949 Patent and the '271 Patent, the '819 Application describes a servomechanism operatively connected to a folding arm for driving and controlling movement of the arm. Again, the '819 Application does not describe a machine that can continuously feed multiple types of blanks to the forming station.
None of these known box forming machines include a plurality of blank feed hoppers, a mandrel, a plurality of folding arms, and a plurality of blank feeding arms that enable the machine to continuously form different types of containers from the different types of blanks being fed to the forming station. It would be beneficial to have a box forming machine that includes individually controlled arms and a control system that allows an operator to program different box forming recipes, or protocols, into the control system. Each recipe would include computer-readable instructions that instruct the different mechanisms of the blank feeding stations and the box forming arms to form various types of boxes, and/or control the output of the formed boxes from the machine. Thus, the machine could continuously form multiple types of boxes. The different types of boxes refer to boxes having various depths, various printing on the outside of the boxes, and various lid structures or, in some cases, no lid structures. A different type of box, as used herein, however, does not mean that the boxes have a different overall length of the sides or ends, or a different number of sides.